For most of us the war is nothing more than images we see on our television sets and stories we read in our local newspapers. We become upset when an idea expressed by another person is in disagreement with our view.

However, for a select few the war means much more than trivial disagreements bewteen opposing sides. For them their daily lives are affected by each moment the war progresses. Here we are, on the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, with no feasible end in sight and no end in sight for them.

For this issue of the [X]press we have tried to shed some light on how the war affects students at SF State and those who live in our surrounding community. A cover story is about a student whose boyfriend is a soldier in Iraq and how this created a new dimension in her life. In the centerfold you will read about teenagers who chose military duty over going to college, and how the war has created new political art.

We hope that these articles, along with others throughout this issue, will bring a broader scope to the conversation surrounding the war.

FROM EDITORIALS